Uno Happily Irrepressible!

Early Saturday morning, May 28 2011, six little kittens in a box were dumped at a sanitation plant. Four of the kittens were approximately 6 weeks old, two of the kittens were only 4 weeks old. Five of the kittens were white, one was black. A small bag of dry cat food was left sitting uselessly alongside the box. There the kittens sat in an open cardboard box throughout the long Memorial Day holiday weekend until Tuesday May 31 2011 when the sanitation plant employees returned to work and discovered the box of kittens.

One of the sanitation workers immediately called my best friend, a veterinarian who lives in the same town and told her about the kittens and asked her if she could take them and try to save them. She agreed and he took the box of kittens to her house.

Upon inspection, all six of the kittens were remarkably healthy, no herpes virus, no upper respiratory problems, no ear mites, although they did have a lot of fleas and of course were in very bad condition from starvation and dehydration after going 4 days without anything to eat or drink. Being the youngest, the little 4 week old kittens were in such bad shape it was feared neither would survive.

The smallest kitten, the 4-week old black kitten, not only was in worst condition of all from starvation and dehydration, she also had a mess of fluid and crusty matter streaming down the entire left side of her face and her left paw etc was wet and crusty from having tried to rub at her left eye which obviously was causing her serious irritation. Closer examination revealed that the little 4-week old black kitten had severe entropion which was causing her alot of discomfort and all the excessive tearing. Her left eye had been completely destroyed, someone had deliberately put her eye out. What was left of the eyeball had

Two of the 6 week old white kittens also had eye damage caused by some kind of sharp object. One of the white kitten's left eye was so damaged there was no sight left in it and her right eye was damaged too although she seemed to have a fair amount of vision left in the right eye. One of the 6 week white kittens had damage to her right eye but not to her left eye. Luckily the two white kittens eye damage wasn't severe enough to do any more than cause permanent scarring and vision loss. The other two 6 week old white kittens and the 4-week old white longhaired littermate to the little black kitten had no eye damage at all.

When offered solid food, it immediately was clear that none of the kittens had any idea at all what food even was. Obviously none of them had even begun to be weaned yet when they were taken from their mothers and dumped. My best friend tube fed the kittens, rehydrated them, got rid of the fleas, and gave them other supportive care. The kittens survived and began to regain condition.

When the little black kitten was approximately 8 weeks old, she underwent surgery to have her left eyelids trimmed and sutured shut to correct the problem with entropion. While under anesthetic she was closely and very gently examined to try to discern what actually remained of her left eyeball but no eyeball could be seen. Due to her small size and the softness of kitten skull bones, no attempt was made to do any deep probing to try to find the eyeball because of the risks involved. It was assumed that whatever remained of her left eyeball was too small and too recessed into her head to be visible. The conjunctival membranes and tear duct were left intact so that she would have normal tear drainage. Except for some normal post-surgical slight drainage over the next 24 hours after the surgery, she had no further problems with the eye until a little over a year later.

Knowing I like black cats and handicapped cats, my best friend offered me the little black kitten. Of course I accepted and took her home after her surgery. Uno had to be kept crated but in an early demonstration of her strong will & determined temperament, she threw such a fit in the crate I was afraid she'd injure herself and so I would let her out to play beside me on the bed for short periods of time and then put her back in the crate.

When I first uploaded photos of Uno, they didn't show on her profile for some reason. I hope they will show now. The photos of Uno with the little green ball and the toy mouse were taken during two of her short play sessions on the bed two days after her surgery. They clearly demonstrate how strong willed and determined she was and how playful and surprisingly unaffected she was by her surgery. My best friend and I feel that she was probably so miserable with the eye before the surgery that even with post-surgical pain etc, Uno was so much relieved by the surgery that she felt good compared to all she had suffered before her surgery.

A week after her surgery, it appeared to me that Uno's sutures had begun to itch a little. She was starting to try to scratch at them so her sutures were removed. Surprisingly, she held still and cooperated with the task of suture removal & seemed relieved to get her stitches out.

Uno was at first named Dynamo because after her surgery she became a little dynamo, a fast moving bundle of energy. Being one-eyed seemed to have absolutely no effect at all on her coordination. I quickly found out a one-eyed kitten is every bit as rambunctious as a normal two-eyed kitten.

The third picture of Uno was taken July 13 2011 and shows her attacking a booda bone, one of her favorite toys at that time.

Uno also was very sweet, personable and loving. Her favorite spot to sleep at that age was curled up beside me or when I was lying down, she would curl up on my shoulder. Amazing that this tiny kitten whose first experiences with humans were shock, agony, terror, pain, starvation, dehydration and the trauma of having an eye put out, is so sweet and personable and trusting and loves human attention.

At first Uno was fearful of the other cats, which was to be expected but also being such a young kitten, she quickly got used to those cats who took the time to interact with her. Buddha, a 10+year old cat who I adopted from a shelter when he was 7 months old and whose personality fits his name, was as usual the first and most persistent in winning her friendship and trust, doing his usual self-assigned role of being friend to all who will allow him to befriend him and self-assigned role of kitten caretaker.

Although Uno had beenn eating canned food prior to arriving at my house, from the first day I got her she refused canned food and preferred dry cat food. She also liked (and still likes) yogurt and wanted to sample anything she saw a human eating. Her absolute favorite treat was and still is cheese. It's impossible to sneak a slice of cheese or a piece of string cheese out of the refrigerator without Uno instantly showing up to try to con me out of a bite.

It's not just Uno's photos that aren't showing -- all new photos since sometime this past Thursday do not show. Catster has told some other members that they're working on it, and hopefully they will fix it soon so we can see Uno. What a lucky girl she is that you gave her a home!

There must be a special sub basement in hell for anyone who abuses any animal the way Uno and her littermates were treated, and a special penthouse in heaven for people like you and her other rescuers! As I lie here in bed typing this, with one of our two kitties curled up between my knees and the other beside my wife, it is totally beyond my comprehension how any sane human being could cause such injuries to these cute furballs!